O’Donnellan & Joyce is currently offering an excellent investment opportunity to acquire a mixed use development at Furbo. The Dún Éibhir development, which was built circa 2005/2006, is located just off the R336 Galway/Spiddal road in Furbo village.

The Connacht Property Auction will have its first public auction event of 2015 on Thursday February 26 in the Menlo Park Hotel, Galway. There will be more than 25 properties offered including properties in Mayo, Galway, Roscommon, and Clare. Registration will begin at 6.30pm with the auction starting at 7pm. The auctions are held in the evening to make it as accessible as possible for buyers to attend. Furthermore, for those who cannot attend the auction, the company offers phone bidding and written proxy bidding, to facilitate anyone who is interested in bidding on one of the auction properties.

Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland’s leading estate agency, will once again bring its Irish Property Show to London on Saturday February 21. At the event which will be held in Millennium Gloucester Hotel from 11am to 4pm, it will be displaying a sample of properties from all across Ireland and giving UK purchasers an opportunity to meet property professionals from several of its offices across the country in one day, and in one location.

The price of an average three-bed semi in Mayo rose by 15.15 per cent in 2014, according to a national survey carried out by Real Estate Alliance. The Real Estate Alliance Average House Index concentrates on Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an accurate picture of the property market in towns and cities countrywide.

With the next public auction taking place on February 26, The Connacht Property Auction has noted a significant number of buyers are looking to purchase quickly, before their mortgage approval expires. With new rules introduced by the Central Bank, buyers will need larger deposits to purchase property. However purchasers with existing mortgage approval can still purchase under the old rules, until their approval expires. The new rules mean first time buyers need a 10 per cent deposit up to €220,000 and 20 per cent on the purchase price over this amount. Other residential buyers need 20 per cent deposits while investors need 30 per cent. There are some cases where flexibility will be allowable, but in general, larger deposits will be needed when purchasing property.

Following the sudden death in 2012 of Fr Brian Hanley, a noted collector, well-known fine art auctioneers Matthews of Oldcastle in Co Meath has been chosen by the executors to sell the contents of his former residence by public auction. An early Victorian glebe house, Kedagh Park House is situated one mile outside Glenamaddy, Co Galway, on the Roscommon road. The auction, to be held this Sunday February 1 at 1.30pm, features his life-time collection formed over 60 years. The sale comprises a total of more than 600 lots of antiques.

Included in the auction will be a fine pair of Irish Regency fold-over side tables of elegant form resting on paw supports, estimated at €4,000 to €7,000. Another interesting lot in the sale is a Georgian portrait of a gentleman estimated at €700 to €1,200. As it is a clearance auction estimates run from €20 all the way up to €15,000, appealing to all tastes and pockets

To buy or not to buy? This is the question that is haunting all potential buyers. Has the market finally bottomed out? According to the ESRI’s latest economic commentary, which delivered another positive assessment of Ireland’s property market and economic recovery, they have predicted a growth of 3.4 per cent this year and 3.8 per cent in 2015.

In 2006 at the height of the Irish property boom the ESRI predicted that the property market was overvalued by as much as 35%. At the time this advice was ignored and was deemed “inaccurate”. The ESRI is now predicting that the Irish property values will grow by a further 8 per cent this year and by 9 per cent in 2015, before moderating to growth rates of 4.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Ireland’s property market still has a bit to go in terms of reaching its “real values”. This is particularly true for the more rural areas outside of Dublin.

Following the recent purchase and current refurbishment of the Virginia Park Lodge by internationally known chef Richard Corrigan, Matthews auctioneers has been instructed to sell the unrequired residual contents by public auction.

Three apartments at Spencer Manor, Castlebar, a 31-bedroom hotel in Geesala, and a 4.5 acre parcel of land on the Newport Road at Carrabeag, Castlebar, were among the 10 Mayo properties snapped up at the latest Allsop Space Auctions in the RDS Dublin on December 9 and 11.

Sherry FitzGerald, Ireland’s leading estate agency, will once again bring its Irish Property Show to London on Saturday February 21, 2015.

At the event, which will be held in Millennium Gloucester Hotel from 11am to 4pm, Sherry FitzGerald will be displaying a sample of properties from all across Ireland and giving UK purchasers an opportunity to meet property professionals from several of its offices across the country in one day, and in one location.